A YEAR'S PAGEANTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 28, 3 February 1938, Page 10

A YEAR'S PAGEANTS

THE CITY'S HISTORY

EVENTS AND DATES

LIST APPROVED

The first public step towards organising -the Centennial events and celebrations for the Wellington "district was taken in .the .Council Chambers of the Town Hall yesterday afternoon at ,a meeting' called by the Mayor (Mr.^T. C: A;; HiSlop):,. ■ when a'tentative list was approyed. There was an attendance, representative of local bodies, the Church,' and interested • citizens. -

The year-1940, said Mr. Hislop, was the one in. which.New Zealand would celebrate its hundredth/year as .part at the British Dominions. The Government was arranging a series of selebrations throughout all parts of the Dominion, to take place on appropriate, fixed dates. In addition to that there would of course be the great,Exhibition, to be held at Wellington. That would be the outstanding event of the 100 years' celebration., but in connection with the various celebrations of local1 events which would take place-in different parts'of New, Zealand, the^Government had set up a historical committee to go.into dates. That committee had set up. a local committee under' the chairmanship of Mr.- T.;Lindsay. Buick.. The purposes of that ..committee was to fix dates of historical interest which it is thought should ; be. marked .by some form of celebration, in. 1940 and even in 1939. It had grriet and made recommendations with regard to .various, dates. He had received, a letter from the Under-Sec-retary of the, Department of, Internal Affairs (Mr. J.,W. Heenan), the permanent officer to charge of all matters connected with the ""Centennial. .

GOVERNMENT'S PLANS.

: That .letter, continued Mr. Hislop, haduncluded a list of events, with the request that the, provincial list should be circulated to members .so that they might' select \ .events for local celebration. during 1940. There would be' no- objection *to' a locality selecting an event not on'the list. Further, the National Historical Committee would be .prepared to -furnish, any additional historical .date -which; might be required in .the ..choice of .an appropriate occasion. Mr. Heenan had suggested the drawing up of a, tentative programme of,celebrations for i;he Wellington provincial district, to be submitted to the National Centennial Committee, which would,'early <in 1938, settle a property co-ordinated programme of celebrations for the whole of the Dominion and determine which celebratioVis we're to receive; national status. Following the meeting of ■ the National ■ Centennial Committee in June,: 1936, it wasl decided/that, in addition to the Exhibi L tion,. celebrations be divided into three classes:—-(a). Events of national importance;; which - occurred in -1940* (b):.purely-local celebrations in honour of; : thei Centennial .(divisible into celebrations, ;an: locality.-' of J an actual/event;. which r occurred- there in '■ 1940, and celebrations in. any ; particular locality not referable to any event which occurred, in it, but .held generally in honour of the Centennial), and ~ (6)'; 'Special'..., Maori' celebrations. Stressing'tn'e Jimpb'rtahce' of local celebfltipns^but'also the necessity for coordination within districts and of, districts' with other "districts, it was emphasised, in- the letter; that" Dominionwide celebrations and a:big Exhibition at Wellington- were not.mutually incompatible. ;: •-' ■ -

!From that, letter, said- Mr; Hislop, they would: see that a series of dates had been«chpseh *and sent-out :by the Department on the recommendation of the Historical Committee" with the intention of ■ having- them/-reviewed -by the local provincial cojnmittee, of which he was chairman. The meeting had. .been called to get the, views of the people of; Wellington/city on the various dates and events suggested. In the light of the advice from the;meetitig he would be able' to put the,Wellington city viewpoint to the Wellington provincial central committee on February 2L Two lists had been sent, but the later one, compiled by Mr. Buick, had additional dates; and events. The meeting would riot deal w,ith forms of memorials.* That would be settled by the; committee at the appropriate time. He suggested the approval of the list of dates presented, copies of Syhicli'Were passed to those present. SPREADING THE DATES EVENLY. Mr. Buick explained that it would he necessary to', spread ithe celebrations of important'events.all over the year as-evenly as possible,"and for that reason .'one celebration per month had been arranged. The dates' ran from January 3, 1940, to December 25, 1940. SThat. would: enable the • people of each province; [to get... together • and. ■ have their celebration in; whatever form they; chose. The form of the celebrations had not been; suggested. . There were four events, prior.to 1940 in the list. They .were important ones, dealdrig with the foundation of the city, but, the; Government. had decided not to subsidise any event for celebration outside. 1940, except the opening of the International Exhibition,- so that those events.which were set down for 1939 would not be Government events at all, and would have to be arranged by the local authorities. • The first event was the arrivalof the Tory, and it was Suggested that'the Wellington Harbour Board should be invited to participate an .that The- three .events connected with Colonel ; Wakefield,. the landing, deed of purchase, etc., c.ould be dealt with, it' was suggested, by Petone and the Hiitt..Valley local bodies. Bankers, architects, civil engineers, builders; and contractors, etc.,; had been asked to come.' together to celebrate particular events in their own way. Each religious body had been taken, in proper sequence of celebrations. •In that way the endeavour had been made to combine, all. the; social. activities of the city, giving each its chance. Otherpeople might have ideas which, if put forward,. would, be welcomed. There was'no: wish to insist on the holding of any event on its own particular date. Saturday was now a popular day, and he suggested that all events sHould be celebrated on Saturdays. MOnsignor Connolly' pointed out that the suggested date for the commemoration of the celebration of High Mass by Bishop Pompallier, December 25, would be an awkward "one as there j would be the usual services.. He had no doubt that many people could be influenced to come from abroad if the occasion were removed from the Christmas period. The Archbishop suggested a date in January or February. A good deal of elasticity must be accorded to the dates of the celebrations, .said the Mayor. No doubt all could be suited. The crucial date of the 1939 celebrations, said Dr. G. Scholefleld, was the signing of. the. deed. of purchase. It seemed as though the other events could be celebrated on the one occasion. . As these events were those which had to be done by the local .bodies themselves, said Mr. Buick, they could arrange the celebrations to suit themtelves. • The Rev. Percy Paris said that the first church service held after the ar-

rival of the Auror* had been a'Method--1 ist one. .■■..•■ . . — THE APPROVED LIST. The following list of dates and events was finally approved:— Wednesday, September 20, 1939.— Arrival of Tory. Harbour Board and shipping interests to celebrate on the harbour. ' Thursday, September 21; 1939.—C01---onel Wakefleld lands. Wednesday, September 27, 1939.— Deed of purchase Port Nicholson, district sighed. Saturday, September 30, 1939.— " Hoisting New Zealand Company's flag !at Petone Pa, suggested festival for . Hutt and Petone. \ November, 1939.—Opening of Inter--1 national Exhibition. • Wednesday, January 3, 1940.—Arriv.al of Cuba with survey party. . Saturday, January 6, 1940.—Engineers and others to celebrate beginning of surveys. ' . Monday, January 22, 1940.—Arrival of Aurora. . Early settlers to celebrate and Centennial memorial to be unveiled at Petone. Sunday, January 21, or 28,1940.—First church service after arrival of Aurora. Wednesday, January 31, 1940.—Arrival of driental. Tuesday, February 6, 1940.—Signing of Treaty of Waitangi (National).' Thursday, February 8, 1940.—Arrival of Duke of Roxburgh. Tuesday, February 20, 1940.—Arrival, of Bengal Merchant. : ■ Sunday, February 25, or Monday, February 26, 1940.—First Presbyterian service by Rev. J. McFarlane at Petone. Thursday, March 7, 1940.—Arrival of Adelaides-women's week. , • Thursday/March 7, 1940.—Arrival of Glenbervie. Monday, March 18, 1940.—First issue of New Zealand Gazette; Press to celebrate. . ■ / ■ Sunday, March 24, 1940.—Opening of Union Bank; business to celebrate. Sunday, April 21, 1940.—Arrival of Bolton. Anglicans to celebrate arrival of Revs. Churton and Butler. Tuesday, May. 14, 1940.—Opening of first school by Miss Tilke. - Tuesday, June 4, 1940.—Arrival of Lieutenant Shortland introducing constitutional rule.. ■ Government, legal, ftiilitary, arid police celebrations, u i Wednesday, July 3, 1940.—Opening Betts, Hopper, and Molesworth business; manufacturers and others ..-,'. to celebrate. i Thursday, .July 11, or August 10, 1940.—Establishment of Union Benefit Society. . ~- September, 1940.—Musical Festival suggested. • . , . . Tuesday, October 22, 1940.—Opening of Barrett's,Hotel.. ■ Saturday, November 16, 1940.—Celebrate separation as a colony (National).. Saturday, November 30, 1940—Planting Scotch thistle (St. Andrew's Day). ■ Wednesday, December 25,1940.—High Mass, celebrated by Bishop Pompallier. PROVINCIAL DATES. ' Monday, April 29, 1940.—Signing of Treaty of Waitangi, etc., Wairarapa. Tuesday, May 14,' 1940.—Signing of Treaty of Waitangi/ etc., Palmerston North, Otaki/ etc. Friday, May 24, 1940.—Signing of Treaty of Waitangi, etc., Wanganui.